ZAGREB, March 5 (Hina) - Tenders for the privatisation of Croatian Television's (HTV) Channel 3, have been submitted by 22 potential buyers, the chairwoman of the Council for Radio & Television, Branka Zovko-Cihlar, and the director
of the Croatian Telecommunications Institute, Ante Dodig, reported on Wednesday.
ZAGREB, March 5 (Hina) - Tenders for the privatisation of Croatian
Television's (HTV) Channel 3, have been submitted by 22 potential
buyers, the chairwoman of the Council for Radio & Television,
Branka Zovko-Cihlar, and the director of the Croatian
Telecommunications Institute, Ante Dodig, reported on Wednesday.
#L#
The public tender for the concession of the television at the
country level, or rather HTV's Channel 3, was announced last
December and the closing date for applications is May 20th.
The concession is granted for a period of ten years with an annual
concession fee of 300 thousand kuna (40,000 euros) and 100 thousand
kuna (13,000 euros) for the use of frequency.
The council's chairwoman Zovko-Cihlar assessed that the incredibly
low concession fees for Channel 3 were virtually giving it away.
Even though the tender is only open to companies registered in
Croatia, media circles are speculating that many companies have
numerous foreign firms backing them, media giants like Silvio
Berlusconi and Rupert Murdoch or the German RTL television
station.
There is some speculation too that some of the companies that have
applied are actually backed by the Rovinj Tobacco Company, the
Croatian/British Vip & Vodafone mobile phone consortium, Nova TV,
the Croatian Olympic Committee, the Croatian Music Union, Croatia
Roads, Croatia Records, etc.
The decision of who has submitted the best offer should be brought
by the Council in October this year.
(hina) sp ms sb